FWB's Chastain finishes 9th at state meet
Ivy Chastain couldn’t remember where she finished at last year’s FHSAA Cross Country Finals, but her ninth place finish at Saturday’s state meet at Little Everglades Steeplechase Ranch in Dade City won’t be something she forgets any time soon.
Chastain turned in a time of 18:26 to take ninth overall to lead her team the Fort Walton Beach girls to fifth-place finish with 175 points.
“I think it was kind of a bigger race, so the energy was high and it was just really exciting,” Chastain, whose time was one minute and 15 seconds better than her time a year ago at state, said. “I just went out there and ran my race.”
Estero (69 points) took the girls’ Class 3A state title and Belen Jesuit (26) took the boys’ title with a dominating performance.
The Vikings had Rhianna Moller (41st, 20:00), Kathryn Russell (51st, 20:09) and Kayla Rodgers (52nd, 20:10) come in within 10 seconds of each other. Autumn White (69th, 20:36), April Polite (70th, 20:39) and Tina deVaux (120th, 21:32) all added to their team’s top-five finish.
Fort Walton Beach coach Jeff Fields was quick to point out Russell, a senior, for her in-race leadership.
“We needed some leadership up front and she pushed them really hard to the front to keep the girls in it,” he said
The Fort Walton Beach boys’ squad didn’t do as well as they hoped, but still placed eighth as a team with 229 points.
Alex Godfrey (16:31) and Joe Guidry (16:32) paced the Vikings, placing 41st and 42nd, respectively. Tim Bulger (16:35) came in next at 48th and Brian Day (72nd, 16:57), Cameron Sanchez (79th, 17:01) and Charlie Shackleford (86th, 17:08) rounded things out for the Vikings.
“It just wasn’t meant to be today,” Fields said. “We’re proud of them and they really had great season.
“Too many things went awry.”
Niceville’s Nick Morken placed 14th overall in a time of 16:04. The Eagles’ other state qualifier, and top sophomore in the state, Thomas Howell, was hampered by a “sinus issue” and dropped out of the race around the two-mile mark, according to Niceville coach Tom Durrenburger.
The Eagles’ girls’ team placed 14th with 406 points. Marsel Mosley led Niceville with a 49th place finish in a time of 20:06. Anna Herrera (78th, 20:49) and Alise Snyders (111th, 21:26) crossed the finish line next for the Eagles, followed by Andrea Serpa (116th, 21:31), Haley Smith (136th, 21:53), Alex Bikker (155th, 22:28) and Regan McAllister (171st, 23:08).
“We had some runners who were not at 100 percent,” Durrenberger said. “For the first time ever that I’ve seen her run, when (Mosley) finished the race, she looked tired. Marsel and Regan McAllister, Anna Herrera were all feeling a little bit under the weather. Its unfortunate that it all came at the biggest race of the year.”
In Class 2A, South Walton’s Trey LaNasa (83rd, 18:06) and Jacob Leuze (93rd, 18:13) ran hard, but didn’t put up their best time on the unforgiving course.
Dylan Scott represented Baker in Class A and finished 29th overall with a time of 17:17. On the girls’ side of Class A, Freeport’s Theresa Johnson ran a 22:40 to finish 107th overall.
